Safest/Easiest way to Migrate VM to another PC

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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MKANET
Posts: 14
Joined: 8. Jul 2020, 03:17

Safest/Easiest way to Migrate VM to another PC

Post by MKANET »

I have VirtualBox 6.x installed with a VM on my old PC. I would like to move that VM over to a brand-new PC that I just installed VirtualBox 7 on.

Questions:

1. Is it better to first upgrade my old PC from VirtualBox 6.x to VirtualBox 7?

2. Do I need to export the VM on my old PC, then import it on the new PC? If so, could someone please tell me which settings I need to set below when exporting the VM; and, what settings to use when importing the VM on the other PC?

Format: Open Virtualization Format .9, 1.0, 2.0??? <--Which format to use?
MAC Address Policy: Include only NAT network adapter MAC addresses, strip all network adapter MAC addresses, Include all network adapter MAC addresses??
Additionally: Write manifest file, include ISO image files????
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 691
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: Safest/Easiest way to Migrate VM to another PC

Post by granada29 »

Unless you require both the old and new VMs to be running simultaneously, I would shut down the VM and just copy it's folder to the new machine. On the new machine use the Machine/Add menu command in the VirtualBox Manager (or the big green + sign labeled Add) to register the VM with VirtualBox.

Before you start the VM on the new machine, check that its settings make sense for the new hardware - i.e. Memory allocation, number of virtual CPUs, network device names.

You should then be good to go. However, don't try and run the old VM while the new one is running (and vice versa) as you will probably have a network conflict.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Safest/Easiest way to Migrate VM to another PC

Post by mpack »

There's a FAQ: Howto: Move a VM.
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